News

Therney finishing Russian trip

Therney RE is now close to finishing catching HB Grandi’s quota for this year in the Russian Barents Sea zone. This year the quota was 680 tonnes of cod, plus by-catches of other species within certain limits. The present trip started on the 24th of October when there was a crew change in Norway, while fishing in the Russian zone had already started a month previously.

Ægir Franzson is Therney’s skipper for this second half of the fishing in Russian waters, and when we spoke to him earlier today, they were on the Goose Bank west of Novaya Zemlya islands in the Arctic Ocean. He told us that weather conditions have been difficult almost the whole time, but now the weather is better and fishing has also improved significantly.

‘It was slow to start with, but has been improving gradually to the point that we have been able to keep production running continuously for the last 48 hours. Catches are mostly cod with a scattering of haddock. It’s good fish, especially further out on the banks, but the fish are smaller in shallower waters,’ he said. When we spoke to him, Therney was the only Icelandic vessel fishing in Russian waters.

‘There are a few Russian trawlers around us and one from the Faroe Islands. I’m told there’s another trawler from Iceland and two more from the Faroes on the way. We aren’t far from finishing our quota, and that’s when we’ll be steaming for home and finish the trip in home waters. We should dock in Reykjavík before the end of the month,’ Ægir Franzson said.

Over the last few years Venus HF has caught the HB Grandi Barents Sea quota in Russian and Norwegian waters, but since that ship was laid up, Therney has taken over its role. However, Therney’s skippers are already familiar with these fishing grounds, as they were in the wheelhouse of Snorri Sturluson RE until that ship was sold to the Westmann Islands twelve years ago.